MODERN 

FINE 
PRINTING 

IN 
AMERICA 

I 


Rfrfe- 

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JOHN  HENRf  NASH  LIBRARY 

SAN  FRANCISCO 

PRESENTED  TO  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

ROBERT  GORDON  SPRQUL,  PRESIDENT 


MR.ANDMRS.MILTON  S.RAV 
CECILY,  VIRGINIAANDROSALYN  RAY 


RAY  OIL  BURNER  COMPANY 


MODERN  FINE  PRINTING 
IN  AMERICA.  AN  ESSAY  BY 
A.  E.  GALLATIN 


NEW  YORK :  PRIVATELY  PRINTED 
i    9    z    i 


This  essay  -was  originally  published,  in  abridged 
form,  in  The  American  Magazine  of  Art  and  is 
now  reprinted  through  the  courtesy  of  that  journal. 


M 


ODERN  FINE  PRINTING  IN 
AMERICA. 


HE  traditions  of  fine  printing  are  being  up- 
held in  America  by  a  small,  but  constantly 
growing,  group  of  enthusiasts:  that  was  the  very 
definite  impression  conveyed  by  the  exhibition 
of  contemporary  American  printing  held  in  May, 
1920,  in  New  York.  This  exhibition,  which  was 
shown  at  the  National  Arts  Club,  under  the  au- 
spices of  the  American  Institute  of  Graphic  Arts, 
was  comprehensive  in  its  scope,  including  in  ad- 
dition to  books,  collections  of  catalogues,  fold- 
ers, circulars,  display  cards  and  various  other 
forms  of  commercial  work.  Typographical  prints, 
posters  and  wood  engravings  were  also  shown, 
and  these  added  greatly  to  the  variety  and  inter- 
est of  the  exhibition. 

Yet  another  interesting  feature  was  a  series  of 
cases  containing  books  illustrating  the  develop- 
ment of  the  printing  art.  This  latter  exhibit,  a 
loan  from  the  American  Type  Founders  Com- 
pany, proved  to  be  a  very  instructive  historical 
survey.  The  history  of  typography  as  practised  in 


6    Modern  Fine  Printing  in  America 

Europe  and  America  was  set  forth,  from  its  in- 
vention in  the  fifteenth  century  right  down  to 
Bruce  Rogers  and  his  books  printed  at  the  River- 
side Press.  I  say  as  practised  in  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica, for  printing  was  done  from  movable  wooden 
blocks  by  the  Chinese  in  the  sixth  century  and  by 
the  Japanese  in  the  eighth,  while  it  is  supposed 
that  in  Corea  copper  types  were  used  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fifteenth  century.  First  we  were 
shown  the  books  which  were  a  combination  of 
printing  from  types  and  the  work  of  the  illumi- 
nator, executed  at  Mainz  (by  Gutenberg),  Co- 
logne, Nuremberg  and  Basle.  Then  we  saw  the 
volumes  issued  from  the  Venetian  press  of  Nico- 
las Jenson,  the  French  master  of  type  design, 
whose  faces  in  this  century  have  served  as  the  in- 
spiration for  several  of  our  greatest  type  designers. 
After  these  books  followed  those  of  another 
Venetian  printer,  Erhard  Ratdolt,  who  entirely 
broke  away  from  the  illuminator.  In  turn  these 
were  followed  by  examples  of  the  craftsmanship 
of  the  great  Aldi  family,  also  of  Venice.  Plantin, 
whose  press  was  at  Antwerp,  Coster,  of  Haarlem, 
the  Dutch  Elzevirs  and  Caxton  I  do  not  think 
were  represented.  In  adjoining  cases  were  sped- 


Modern  Fine  Printing  in  America    7 

mens  of  the  work  of  the  eminent  French  printers 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  Robert  Estienne,  Claude 
Garamond  and  Geofroy  Tory.  Next  we  saw  ex- 
amples of  the  work  of  the  seventeenth  century 
printers  of  France,  Holland  and  England,  and  then 
books  printed  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  by  Baskerville,  Bodoni  and  Bulmer.  Fi- 
nally we  were  shown  a  group  of  William  Morris's 
Kelmscott  Press  books,  a  volume  from  the  Doves 
Press,  one  from  the  Ashendene  Press,  and  in  the 
last  case  of  all,  six  superb  books  designed  by  Bruce 
Rogers. 

The  foregoing  collection  was  admirably  sup- 
plemented by  a  remarkable  assemblage  of  early 
printed  books  containing  decorative  illustrations, 
which  was  on  view  at  the  Metropolitan  Museum; 
this  was  a  special  exhibition,  some  of  the  vol- 
umes being  the  property  of  the  Museum,  and 
some  being  loans.  Included  among  these  vol- 
umes were  books  containing  woodcuts  by  Diirer, 
Cranach,  Weiditz  and  Holbein.  A  copy  of  the 
very  rare  edition  of  Dante's  Divina  Commedia, 
printed  at  Florence  in  1481,  which  contains  en- 
gravings attributed  to  Botticelli,  was  also  on  view, 
as  was  the  first  book  to  be  printed  with  illustra- 


8    Modern  Fine  Printing  in  America 

tions  in  color,  a  work  entitled  Sphaera  Mundi, 
printed  in  Venice  in  1485.  Among  the  later  vol- 
umes of  interest  were  copies  of  William  Blake's 
America  and  Pastorals  of  Virgil,  which  are  among 
the  most  individual  and  beautiful  books  ever 
made.  Examples  were  also  shown  of  the  marvel- 
ously  beautiful  woodcuts  of  Edward  Calvert  and 
Thomas  Bewick. 

The  revival  of  fine  printing  in  this  country 
dates  back  about  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  since 
then  there  has  been  a  steady  improvement  in  both 
the  craftsmanship  and  the  taste  of  our  printers. 
The  great  mass  of  the  commercial  printing  being 
done  today  in  America  is  appallingly  bad,  and  this 
is  also  true  of  our  decorative  illustration  and  the 
ornamentation  of  our  books,  but  it  is  equally  true 
that  the  standards  of  good  book-making  are  being 
constantly  advanced  and  that  a  great  amount  of 
notable  and  distinguished  work  is  at  present  be- 
ing produced  in  this  country.  America  possesses 
as  well  a  group  of  decorative  draughtsmen  who 
are  doing  some  exceedingly  fine  work — a  con- 
siderable portion  of  their  designs  being  utilized 
by  the  large  advertisers. 

It  was  William  Morris,  who  possessed  con- 


Modern  Fine  Printing  in  America    9 

siderable  knowledge  of  his  craft,  who  brought 
about  the  renaissance  of  fine  printing  in  England. 
Printing  in  that  country  had  fallen  to  very  low 
estate  and  the  books  which  were  issued  by  the 
Kelmscott  Press  are  landmarks  in  the  history  of 
printing.  But  it  cannot  be  denied  that  two  of  his 
three  founts  of  type,  the  Gothic  Chaucer  and 
Troy,  are  entirely  too  heavy  and  medieval  for 
present-day  purposes;  the  Roman  Golden  type  is 
far  more  legible.  The  limp  vellum  bindings,  with 
their  tapes,  seem  to  me  to  be  affected,  as  well  as 
most  unpractical.  The  initials  and  borders  de- 
signed by  Morris  for  his  books  are  lacking  in  in- 
vention and  are  rather  mechanical  looking.  His 
Chaucer,  which  is  usually  considered  to  be  his 
masterpiece,  is  dreadfully  overloaded  with  heavy 
and  ornate  borders,  initial  letters  and  illustrations. 
Aubrey  Beardsley,  one  of  the  most  vital  artists 
that  England  has  produced,  and  a  really  great 
ornamentist,  far  outstripped  Morris  in  the  designs 
which  he  made  for  Malory's  Morte  d'Arthur,  in 
which  he  set  out  to  rival  the  Kelmscott  Press 
books.  Numerous  private  presses  were  set  up  in 
England  following  the  example  of  William  Mor- 
ris, including  the  Vale,  the  Eragny,  the  Essex 


i  o  Modern  Fine  Printing  in  America 

House,  the  Ashendene  and  the  Doves.  Of  all  these 
presses  the  Doves,  which  was  founded  by  T.  J. 
Cobden-Sanderson  and  Emery  Walker,  produced 
in  many  respects  the  most  beautiful  results ;  the 
great  dignity  and  simplicity  of  their  formats,  and 
the  beauty  of  their  single  fount  of  type,  place  these 
books  among  the  masterpieces  of  modern  print- 
ing. The  exquisiteVale  Press  books  are  most  orig- 
inal in  format,  with  their  types,  initials,  borders 
and  patterned  colored  cover  papers  (or  vellum 
bindings  stamped  with  a  design  in  gilt )  designed 
by  Charles  Ricketts  and  Charles  H.  Shannon,  the 
former  having  engraved  the  wooden  blocks  from 
which  they  were  printed.  These  books  built  by 
Messrs  Ricketts  and  Shannon,  both  versatile 
artists  and  true  connoisseurs,  at  the  Vale  Press,  as 
well  as  a  few  which  were  printed  elsewhere,  are 
true  works  of  art  in  every  way.  The  volumes  is- 
sued by  the  other  presses  enumerated  above  are  for 
the  most  part  inferior  productions;  in  but  few  of 
them  ( St.  John  Hornby's  Ashendene  Press  books 
are  among  the  exceptions)  do  we  find  echoes 
of  the  splendid  traditions  which  were  established 
in  Great  Britain  by  Caxton  and  Caslon  and  after- 
wards continued  by  Horace  Walpole  at  his  Straw- 


Modern  Fine  Printing  in  America  1 1 

berry  Hill  Press,  by  John  Baskerville,  by  Robert 
and  Andrew  Foulis,and  by  Charles  Whittingham, 
at  his  Chiswick  Press. 

The  beautiful  volumes,  built  according  to  the 
highest  and  purest  traditions  of  the  printing  art, 
and  invariably  possessed  also  of  a  rich  note  of  in- 
dividuality, that  have  been  created  by  Mr  Bruce 
Rogers  and  by  Mr  D.  B.  Updike  excel  in  merit 
those  produced  during  any  other  epoch  in  Amer- 
ica. The  books  designed  by  Mr  Rogers,  both  dur- 
ing his  connection  with  the  Riverside  Press  at 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts  (1900-1911),  as  well 
as  during  the  past  few  years,  and  by  Mr  Updike 
at  his  Merrymount  Press  in  Boston,  undoubtedly 
rank  with  the  very  choicest  examples  of  the  typog- 
raphy of  our  time. 

No  printer  has  shown  as  great  versatility  and 
variety  in  his  work  as  has  Mr  Bruce  Rogers.  Quite 
different  in  format  are  the  ninety-seven  volumes 
designed  by  Mr  Rogers  up  to  1916  which  are 
listed  in  one  of  the  publications  of  the  Carteret 
Book  Club  of  Newark.  Designing  his  own  types, 
as  many  printers  did  until  the  seventeenth  century 
(and  cut  their  punches  as  well),  drawing  or  en- 
graving his  own  initial  letters  and  headpieces, 


1 2  Modern  Fine  Printing  in  America 

designing  his  bindings,  in  addition  to  laying  out 
his  books,  the  volumes  of  Mr  Rogers  are  as  dis- 
tinctive as  those  printed  at  the  Kelmscott,  Doves 
and  other  English  presses.  What  Mr  Rogers  has 
done,  however,  is  a  far  greater  achievement  than 
that  accomplished  by  any  of  these  presses:  for  one 
thing,  and  this  is  an  important  point,  his  books 
are  meant  to  be  read,  and  are  not  merely  objets  d'art. 
Mr  Rogers'  volumes  range  all  the  way  from  a  large 
folio,  with  illuminated  roundels,  inspired  by  a 
thirteenth  century  manuscript,  to  a  three-volume 
edition  of  Montaigne's  Essays,  in  folio;  The  His- 
tory of  Oliver  and  Arthur,  set  in  black  letter,  to  a 
diminutive  edition  of  Ecclesiastes.  Other  volumes 
include  an  elaborate  book  on  Geofroy  Tory,  an 
extremely  beautiful  edition  of  Chaucer's  The 
Parlement  of  Foules,  printed  in  black,  red  and 
blue,  with  gold  initials,  and  an  altogether  delight- 
ful volume  entitled  Franklin  and  His  Press  at 
Passy,  which  was  printed  for  the  Grolier  Club. 
Everyone  of  these  books  is  distinguished  for  the 
technical  excellence  of  its  layout:  the  two  pages 
are  properly  considered  as  being  a  unit,  the  mar- 
gins are  of  correct  and  pleasing  proportions,  the 
type  is  always  clear  and  of  the  right  size  for  the 


Modern  Fine  Printing  in  America  \  3 

page,  the  composition  is  faultless,  and  the  decora- 
tions are  always  suitable  and  form  an  integral  part 
of  the  whole. 

Mr  A.  W.  Pollard,  Keeper  of  Printed  Books  at 
the  British  Museum,  has  written  an  appreciative 
essay  on  Mr  Rogers'  work  in  which  he  properly 
calls  Mr  Rogers  the  most  vital  force  in  modern 
typography.  In  the  course  of  this  essay  Mr.  Pollard 
writes  that  he  is  "eager  to  see  him  aim  at  the  very 
highest  and  produce  an  individual  and  characteris- 
tic book  with  no  antiquarian  flavor."  Modernity, 
it  is  true,  has  almost  invariably  been  an  attribute 
of  the  greatest  art.  Mr.  Rogers,  however,  has  de- 
signed a  large  number  of  books  which  are  not 
possessed  of  an  antiquarian  flavor.  I  should  like, 
at  the  same  time,  to  see  him  produce  a  book 
which  would  reflect  more  of  the  spirit  of  our 
immediate  epoch. 

Mr  D.  B.  Updike  founded  his  Merrymount 
Press  at  Boston  in  1893,  although  it  was  not  un- 
til a  little  later  date  that  he  did  anything  but  lay 
out  his  books.  Since  1903  the  press  has  occupied 
commodious  quarters,  equipped  with  the  mate- 
rials necessary  to  produce  the  very  finest  work, 
modeled  to  some  extent  after  the  University  Press, 


1 4  Modern  Fine  Printing  in  America 

Oxford.  Some  of  the  types  used  at  the  Merry- 
mount  Press  were  designed  by  Mr  Herbert  Home. 
Mr  Updike's  work  is  invariably  distinguished  for 
its  faultless  press-work,  its  restraint  and  its  perfect 
taste. 

At  the  exhibition  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Graphic  Arts,  the  gold  medal  awarded  for  the 
best  printed  book  in  the  exhibition  was  given  to 
the  Norman  T.  A.  Munder  Company,  of  Balti- 
more, for  a  volume  entitled  Original  Drawings 
by  the  Old  Masters.  This  book  had  been  laid  out 
by  William  A.  Bradley  and  T.  M.  Cleland  and  was 
a  volume  of  facsimile  reproductions  in  color.  Mr 
Cleland,  who  is  one  of  the  most  gifted  designers 
of  typographical  ornaments  and  borders  in  this 
country,  was  responsible  for  the  notably  fine  title- 
page,  included  within  an  elaborate  border,  as  well 
as  for  the  splendid  initial  letters.  To  Mr  Cleland 
were  justly  awarded  the  gold  medals  in  the  cata- 
logue and  booklet  classes.  The  excellent  typo- 
graphical placard  which  was  used  to  advertise  the 
exhibition,  and  which  received  the  gold  medal 
in  the  poster  class,  was  designed  by  Mr  Frederic 
W.  Goudy,  the  well-known  designer  of  several 
admirable  type  faces.  This  poster  was  printed  by 


Modern  Fine  Printing  in  America  1 5 

Mr  William  E.  Rudge,  whose  notably  fine  work 
carried  off  many  other  prizes. 

No  notes,  however  slight,  on  contemporary 
American  typographical  designers  could  afford  to 
overlook  the  very  distinguished  decorative  draw- 
ings of  Messrs  Guido  and  Lawrence  Rosa,  Charles 
R.  Capon,  Walter  D.  Teague  and  Edward  B. 
Edwards.  Practically  all  of  their  designs  were 
made  for  commercial  purposes,  as  were  also  the 
drawings  and  paintings  of  those  true  masters  of 
poster  design,  Messrs  Charles  B.  Falls,  Edward 
Penfield  and  Adolph  Treidler. 

Following  a  representative  exhibition  of  his 
woodcuts  held  a  little  earlier  in  the  season  at  the 
Grolier  Club,  Mr  Rudolph  Ruzicka  showed  a 
smaller  group  of  his  engravings  on  wood  at  the 
American  Institute  of  Graphic  Arts  Exhibition. 
One  welcomed  the  opportunity  to  study  these 
little  masterpieces  again,  for  nothing  finer  has 
been  done  in  this  country.  Mr  Ruzicka  has  mas- 
tered the  technique  of  wood-engraving  and  his 
designs  are  always  marked  by  true  distinction ;  his 
subjects  include  views  of  New  York  and  Newark, 
printed  in  colors,  and  a  series  of  small  engravings 
of  the  fountains  of  Papal  Rome.  Besides  these, 


1 6  Modern  Fine  Printing  in  America 

Mr  Ruzicka  has  cut  a  great  many  book-plates  and 
private  Christmas  cards,  the  majority  of  them  pic- 
torial  in  treatment,  although  a  number  are  purely 
decorative. 

Upon  the  conclusion  of  this  display  of  fine 
printing,  the  material  which  had  been  brought 
together  was  sent  on  a  circuit  for  exhibition  in 
various  of  the  principal  cities  throughout  the 
country  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  accomplished 
much  in  stimulating  among  our  printers  the  de- 
sire to  arrive  at  higher  standards  of  excellence.  I 
should  like  very  much  to  see  such  an  exhibitionas 
this  sent  to  London  and  Paris,  in  both  of  which 
cities  I  am  sure  it  would  receive  a  very  favorable 
reception.  I  also  believe  that  it  would  be  most 
instructive  and  advantageous  to  our  printers  if 
similar  exhibitions  could  be  arranged  abroad  and 
sent  to  this  country;  this  is  something  that  I 
hope  the  American  Institute  of  Graphic  Arts  will 
seriously  take  under  consideration. 


